In January at CES 2012, Sprint's vice president of product realization David Owens didn't seem that hot about launching a Windows Phone-based device. At that time Owens said that the carrier's one Windows Phone product, " ... hasn't done well enough for us to jump back into the fire. We told Microsoft: You guys have to go build the enthusiasm for the product. We'll train our reps on why it's great...[but] the number-one reason the product was returned was the user experience."

Now it seems that Owens may be singing a different tune when it comes to supporting Windows Phone, specifically the upcoming launch of Windows Phone 8, also known as Apollo. PCMag.com reports that Owens is "still bullish on Apollo". That would seem to hint strongly that Sprint might have one or more Windows Phone 8-based smartphones available for its subscribers by the end of 2012.

Owens also talked about Sprint's plans for its LTE-based network, which it is currently building and is expected to go live in some parts of the US later this year. Owens said that Sprint plans to release "12-15 LTE devices" by the end of the year. That will include smartphones, hotspots, USB laptop modems and tablets. So far, Sprint had released just three smartphones that will support the upcoming LTE network.